```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FAfpZbC9pZcXQqSITXhEj%2F6f8094ba-d981-4f4b-ac29-7df0667faf1c.jpg?alt=media&token=0fe048ff-33e6-4efd-92e4-2068d2f0cd67","id":"6f8094ba-d981-4f4b-ac29-7df0667faf1c","width":1368,"height":1026,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2022-06-10 at 3.33.54 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

**How do I see mentorship?**

Fundamentally mentorship is a long term connection with mutual respect and admiration for each other.

It is also about how one approaches the field, builds connections, researches how the upcoming technologies will be beneficial for/from designers, helps the new designers in the industry and can provide feedback to grow together.

## **Mentorship framework**

I have created a brief framework for mentorship for myself which is based upon:

## **3Cs — Collaborate, Critique & Conquer**

* **Collaborate** — In this scenario, we will collaborate on projects mutually decided by both the mentee and mentor. By doing this, as a mentee, you will get to work alongside projects which you haven’t already, that will give opportunities to learn new spectrums, skill sets etc plus improve upon the existing skill sets.

* **Critique** — Critiquing, I believe makes a person more empathetic about others and the art of critiquing others work is a skill set we need to acquire every day. How to give constructive feedback and receive one, plus implementing them and make sure you are catching up with the person after feedback session talking about how things are moving afterwards.

* **Conquer** — This relationship will help us achieve the immediate goals, plus we can strategise how the future will shape us.

Feel free to reach out to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JellyIvy) (DMs are open) if you have specific questions or want to learn more.

*Illustration courtesy: <https://dribbble.com/sophsophsoph>*

3Cs of mentorship

> **Maximize your impact as a designer in an organization**

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FGcgB3fej0BQPr7Z4UYta%2F38f93e01-220a-48b6-bde5-00616cb49638.jpg?alt=media&token=4cca0833-c372-47be-a676-158106ac893e","id":"38f93e01-220a-48b6-bde5-00616cb49638","width":1380,"height":1036,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2022-06-10 at 3.42.23 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Often times I get asked how do you create impact in a team/company and make yourself more valuable. This conversation comes up much more during performance review sessions. So, I have jotted down few pointers which can help you accelerate the process.

> You don’t grow alone, you make your team grow and that’s how you create impact in an environment

## ***🔥Framework: Start being impact focused vs effort focused or feature focused.***

These are some of the tips I usually share if they help more people achieve impact:

## **🔁 Reusability by default**

We often try and build components from scratch, which might look shinny but we also need to think about “systems design” and how existing components can help expedite the product development process. Also, think about the never ending tech debt in the engineering team? You don’t want to overload them when you can simplify the process. While building concepts try and reuse existing components to also build a brand identity. Reusing might need a bit of creative thinking initially but moves us directly into floor 9 instead of starting from floor 0. These are few examples but probably there are more.

## **🛠 Using tools and libraries**

**The easiest way to not achieve impact is to reinvent the wheel**. If certain libraries/tools allow us to get where we need faster, we should use them. Engineers in particular will not be measured in complexity but on simplicity. Make a hard/impactful problem simple and you will receive all the kudos and praises . Do the opposite and you will probably work more hours and not so good rating.

## **👨‍🎨 Avoid the rich mentality**

**Being scrappy is the secret here.** We gather very rich insights and data from various research trips and product analysis. If we can approach projects in growth experiments, you will ship more often and learn from them as well. Having such operating model can help you exceed expectations as well. Sometimes, you can even do scrappy research testings and show the results to your team to expedite a feature launch as well. There are only upsides and very few downsides in this framework.

## **☺️ Create a safe environment**

**Nobody wants to work with an asshole, trust me!** Be open minded, take responsibilities and over-communicate about your progress and if you are blocked. Understand your team mates strengths and growth areas, and ask them if you can help them unblock in any way. All these small gestures goes a long way.

Hope we can all **dream big impact, but keeping it simple** (it’s harder to do than said).

*Note: This document is highly influenced from my previous manager’s (Norman Teh — GRAB) notes. So, all due credits to him as well :)*

*Illustration copyright: <https://dribbble.com/allyreevessays>*

How to go to "the next level": tips for creating high impact

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FHsjRgm5UWRFn6mC3lYju%2F46f8731e-9584-4651-a109-9a5fb84d238e.jpg?alt=media&token=afa2e03a-2d25-4e86-81a8-bbc186305796","id":"46f8731e-9584-4651-a109-9a5fb84d238e","width":1246,"height":934,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2021-08-02 at 10.26.37 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Designing a system for sustainable header space utilization of Shopify mobile app for the merchants to use Analytics Reports.

Mobile Header Space redesign: utility based design system

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2Fai-expectations%2F55d8b3d8-7709-411c-86e4-0286fbd0b49c.png?alt=media&token=5d314f6e-cdf7-4418-bc7b-110889bcf450","id":"55d8b3d8-7709-411c-86e4-0286fbd0b49c","width":1600,"height":960,"filename":"blog post cover.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

People expect that when they use a tool, it will provide them with the EXACT answer, demanding 100% certainty.

This expectation has been met with traditional software where answers were confined within preset boundaries, lacking dynamism, and remaining predictable.

However, with AI in play, users must engage their cognitive abilities alongside the generated outputs. It's not advisable to fully rely on the outputs, but the challenge lies in determining which ones to trust and which to question. Additionally, the degree of trust or distrust poses another layer of complexity.

### **In the process of developing AI products and experiences, it is essential to acknowledge certain realities about human behaviour**

* Most individuals desire certainty when using software.

* Many people dislike the effort of collecting diverse data and deriving insights, finding it time-consuming and mentally taxing. A significant portion of the population prefers to avoid extensive thinking.

* Humans hold high expectations for machines; failure to meet these expectations often leads to trust issues.

* People prefer binary answers over ambiguous or grey responses. The mantra is, "Don't make me think."

* AI should consistently provide the same answer for the same question across different users to avoid discrepancies.

### **Therefore, the critical questions to address to build AI products are:**

* How can AI outputs achieve greater certainty?

* What measures can be implemented to instil trust in AI outputs among users?

* What steps are necessary for building trust in AI-generated outputs?

* How can AI minimize probabilistic outputs?

* How can AI learn and adapt to human behaviors, presenting answers in ways that better satisfy individual needs?

\#AI #AIProduct #behaviour

People's expectations from AI products

> How I make decisions to provide delightful experiences

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FPHNbUTLMqaLbSpB0P3qQ%2F4ebd2e93-4340-42e3-9755-5771f88d1e4c.jpg?alt=media&token=21410581-11ee-41be-92ec-1fbfb382a319","id":"4ebd2e93-4340-42e3-9755-5771f88d1e4c","width":1374,"height":918,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2022-06-10 at 3.37.40 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

There are a lot of different examples on how to design better, how to create intentional experiences within time constraints etc. But every framework looked similar and overwhelming to me, which was lacking in being succinct and to the point.

Hence, I slowly started creating a guiding principle this year which is helping me to reflect on my decisions and provide thoughtful experiences.

## **Intent**

```
Why does the problem exist? What are you trying to solve?
```

We designers love to jump on the tools (e.g; Figma, Sketch etc) and start producing solutions. But doing it at the very beginning only produces half baked experiences which lacks context, use cases and intention. Without these, you won’t be able to solve real problems.

**Try to:** Zoom out, get to know which teams/stakeholders has to be involved, understand the value propositions, gather more context, different use cases and think more from 1st principles (e.g; if you are anxious and open an app to get solution what will you do, what do you expect etc).

Write down all these snippets and this will form a story to you. Start from there and keep doing this when you are stuck in the rabbit hole.

> ***Understand the problem statement better → to solve intentionally***

Our job is to create solid 2–3 options which are equally good, and not to create X number of half baked iterations.

## **How did I arrive at a decision(s)**

```
Which insights helped me? How to document your decisions?
```

While creating the contextual iterations, always document each decisions you made for each feature and how it is gearing towards solving the problem. Sometimes, it will be to drive a specific business metrics, content discoverability, nudging the users, and what not. Not to forget, certain decisions will be made based on different constraints of the current system and scalability. Make sure to document all of them.

**This will help you in many folds:**

1. Makes a solid case when you present to your stakeholders. ***Remember, people want to know why you made what you made.*** It has to be intentional. Once you can persuade them with your reasonings, your 1st hurdle is achieved.

2. This habit will be immensely helpful when you want to compile you work for portfolio case studies. We don’t always remember every decision we made after certain days/months.

## **Scaling & Sustainability**

```
Why should you think about the future while designing for the present need?
```

You don’t want to build a product which doesn’t have any future. Design is contextual and it changes with growing needs and requirements. Hence, while designing always think about how the future version of the product will be. What will enable the users to do their jobs easily and faster, does the design serves a purpose, can we scale this system etc.

Always think beyond the current need and how it can scale to the prospective future. This will also help to prepare yourself and your team better for the future.

So always be prepared!

*FYI: This is a living document.*

Guiding principles for better design decisions

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FQwULxkUPQbmIY2nVQ4pr%2F387c49c3-4ff3-466c-9c1e-850acda301da.png?alt=media&token=d7ffc9af-8a3f-4fae-8334-ac5cc247114f","id":"387c49c3-4ff3-466c-9c1e-850acda301da","width":1586,"height":888,"filename":"111.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

**🕹Youtube product launch video:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LWXiNfkpZg

**✍️The Verge press release:** https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/11/22325404/bumble-virtual-date-trivia-quiz-social-distancing

`how we built emotional experiences for people by reforming virtual dating mechanics`

With the vision to bring people together during such uncertain times (COVID-19) and try to normalize the virtual dating ecosystem.\
Virtual dating to be demystified and made fun + emotional so people can get over the feeling of awkwardness about it and give it a go because they still long to connect romantically with people during lockdowns.

Night In

Replatforming: Building the tools for a data migration system which the merchants will need to migrate from the competitors' platforms to Shopify.

To give a better experience to merchants looking to switch to Shopify by providing tools that enable as-seamless-as-possible data migration from their previous platform.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FRR46CdI5tCbSxtyOM579%2F3957a984-d549-4833-b96c-c7aa1f58465c.jpg?alt=media&token=04bf6ebc-9e03-4c37-ad63-3741426dd18d","id":"3957a984-d549-4833-b96c-c7aa1f58465c","width":1326,"height":834,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2021-08-02 at 10.24.06 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Growth: Building seamless data migration system

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FTjuzxZ9C0bazOD1jLxx1%2F5d063d17-6960-4023-99ee-e38e9861fcae.jpg?alt=media&token=634cb345-623d-4212-aff7-b7fa349993b8","id":"5d063d17-6960-4023-99ee-e38e9861fcae","width":1600,"height":913,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2021-08-02 at 10.08.47 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

***“Humanize” customer support experiences by providing personalized & contextual solutions for every need.***\
**\
There are over 1.6 million driver-partners who work at Grab (2020 data). \
**\
Allow customers to find contextual solutions in time with increased brand trust.\
They can't easily find Help Centre articles to solve their problems. \
As a result, the majority of DAX who report issues use voice calls as their preferred support channel and this lacks the intervention an article can provide to reduce our Customer Experience contacts through prevention or automation.

Help Centre Redesign

**OLA Partner Clubs:** Led drivers' performance management system and launched an inclusive rewards platform in 8 languages which brought back X% of the previously churned drivers and saw Y% of new drivers join over a period of one year.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2FVNfNv8kuhEn3x7X9ZLZV%2F7580b420-ba2b-4d5b-bdd3-7f9b18ed9ce5.jpg?alt=media&token=de2c408e-ad5b-4226-9588-c8931eb97090","id":"7580b420-ba2b-4d5b-bdd3-7f9b18ed9ce5","width":1516,"height":1136,"filename":"WhatsApp Image 2021-08-02 at 10.38.40 PM.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Partner Clubs

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fo0h99OHQZfNXjoAS7jvaF3uBpc12%2Fe1cZfLllxpygu3ZlFXRM%2Fa368e9c0-dec1-475b-b0bb-6ef6b60a6705.png?alt=media&token=584745f2-5cbc-456c-92dc-9521e0ab274c","id":"a368e9c0-dec1-475b-b0bb-6ef6b60a6705","width":1200,"height":630,"filename":"bumble-fb-share.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

```
Wrote this piece back in mid 2020.
```

*I moved again and this time it’s to London, UK 🇬🇧 . It’s my 3rd move to a different country & continent in the past 2.5 years.*

This time I wanted to be more deliberate with my career choices and I was willing to take ample time to find a place where I will be challenged and a culture where I can thrive. Interestingly, I found that place within a month of starting the interview processes.

I joined **Bumble** in October, 2020!

## **🔥 A lot of you asked what I was looking for.. so here it goes**

*“As Product Designers, we strive to make an impact in the lives of people through the products and experiences we create.”*

A role at Bumble would give me an unprecedented opportunity to positively empower millions of customers through collaborative work on how communication can change people and relationships by empowering them.

I have always been fascinated with companies and products which **provide modesty, transparency and equality to all their customers**: internal (employees) and external (users).

## **🐝 Why Bumble**

I have had a fair bit of chance to use dating apps in general and I started reading more about Bumble recently, some thing which stood out for me was the mission of Bumble.

> ***“On Bumble, women always make the first move”** — this actually shows intentionality and giving equal power to women*

## **There are 4 key elements**

💁🏽‍♀️ People 1st approach\
📈 Designing for scale & complexity\
🧠 Focus on continuous growth\
💪 Empowering culture

## **💁🏽‍♀️People 1st approach**

Bumble’s mission to make a platform and community that creates empowering connections in love, life, and work, that entails the focus on people and communication, which is a huge part of the internal culture as well. **I have been very proud of the work I have done till now** and the people I have worked with. I can totally see Bumble being the same both from job satisfaction and the people I will be working with. It would be fantastic to work alongside such amazing folks and learn from them.

## **📈 Designing for scale & complexity**

Bumble is a **massive product which touches 100 millions people.** Designing for the global diversity of people and through communication you are able to make meaningful connections. Also, there is a huge untapped area in this industry which can be shaped, so many problems in the dating industry are still to be solved. Plus Bumble has other line of products such as Bff & Biz which has great potential to empower and connect with various use cases.

## **🧠 Focus on continuous growth**

I believe in “ship to learn”: **the ability to fail and work towards improvement together.** I believe with my heart that “The only way to learn to be better is by shipping, and watching what happens. Your only job (whether it’s officially or not) is to make decisions based on imperfect information, ship, and observe the result. Then repeat, with the first result as new information. And repeat. And repeat again.” — Coby, Intercom.\
With a close knit high performing team I felt the comfort of failing together in Bumble.

## **💪 Empowering culture**

I have found my interactions with Bumble folks to be very inspiring. Something that I really liked is **people are encouraged to bring their whole self to work,** which shows how much Bumble cares about creating an inclusive and diverse space for its employees. **Bumble’s brand intention is shown everywhere.**

*So, cheers to a new journey and thank you everyone who have helped me immensely so far!*

Why I joined Bumble

```cv
gallery
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```

Shopify Replatforming: Data migration system

### *I sat down with Tom Scott to discuss the role of a Founding Designer. Plus, also what an early stage startup should look for to hire a Founding Designer.*

Startups are designed to be hard and literally no day will feel the same. The highs are very high and lows can even break you at times. With that said, they are also very rewarding and that’s one of the primary reasons people start or join a startup.

There can be multiple different challenges in a startup and this is my ongoing list, which goes beyond the hard skills of a designer:

1. **Keep your mental and physical health in check:** first things first - in order to do good work, collaborate well, explore fast and iterate enough you need to make sure your body is in sync with yourself. Get enough sleep, meditate, run, strength train or anything that works. But make sure you are taking care of yourself. Startups can be intimidating, so be selfish and take time out for yourself in order to make sure your tomorrow looks better. Do this for yourself.

2. **Too many challenges to be solved at the same time:** There is always something on fire and needs your attention, but *ruthless prioritization* is the name of the game. Remember, every decision will have its consequences. Are you comfortable with X over Y? If so, how comfortable are you? What are the business stakes? What happens if you can’t prioritize Y for the next few weeks? People will look up to you and your hypothesis, insights as well. So, being comfortable with which project to take over others is very important.

3. **Forget your picture perfect double diamond process:** I can’t stress on this enough. I might get into trouble here with fellow designers here, but let me say - there is no picture perfect process to designing good products and no one framework works for all or in every company or in every situation. Be adaptable, be bold in your approach and be more than okay to change your process with the need of the hour. But that also doesn’t mean you have to bend over backwards to fulfil every task from everyone.

4. **You will do a lot more than what your job entails/lines are blurred in between different roles:** There will be a lot of problems which are not well defined or nobody is there to define it for you. A big part of you growing as a founding designer is to define problems, why the problem is a problem and what are the different ways of solving it without having a full fledged team. And trust me it can be a lot of fun. An opportunity is as big or as small as you want it to be. Ask yourself if you are okay with it.

5. **With great power comes great responsibility:** Everyone wants more power and control, but very few can deal with the responsibility that comes with it. Ask yourself if you are okay with being questioned on your decisions, if you are okay with being uncomfortable for days and being okay with personal hockey stick growth. Imagine yourself in those situations and see how okay you are with it.

6. **You don’t have the luxury of time:** You don’t have all the days and weeks to work on optimising. There will be, but it might not be now. My manager keeps saying this fascinating sentence: “ always think of how much we can do in a week’s time and let’s push through that” and it has stuck with me. I found it really valuable in how to think of time, prioritizations and what can be done.

7. **Thinking slow, fast and beyond:** Now this is a tough nut to crack and you will only get better with time and experience. Solving for MVP, yet solving for the future so the system doesn’t break. Always imagine what your north star vision is and work backwards with different shipping cycles. You will also realize how far you and the product have come.

8. **Imposter syndrome:** I work with a bunch of magnificent colleagues who are incredible at what they do and beyond so. You are bound to feel like an imposter. But growth happens when you surround yourself with people who are extremely talented and passionate about what they do.

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> My Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivy-mukherjee/
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🚀 The Ultimate Guide to the Founding Designer Role: Part 1

Read my recent article on being a Founding Designer: https://verified.beehiiv.com/p/ultimate-founding-designer-role